When I first started to gain interest in the field of hypnotherapy, and how I could use it personally for self improvement, I did not realize how extensively hypnosis could not only help mold and improve the human mind, but also how many applications outside of pure "self improvement" it actually had.

The first thing that led me to self hypnosis was the fact that I wanted to not only lose a few pounds, but also get out of the funk that my mind seemed to be in from months of eating whatever I wanted. I'm normally a fairly healthy eater, but for some reason the only thing I had wanted for the longest time was deep fried foods and salty fatty snacks.

I needed something to not only dig me out of the weight gain I had endured, but also something more lasting, something that could help me get my mind back where it needed to be for long lasting success. I found hypnotherapy as the best solution while doing research, and began to listed to CD's that induced self hypnosis at night before I went to bed, in a deeply relaxed states.

And guess what? It worked! It worked from the very first time I tried it. The very next day I noticed my appetite was smaller and it was very easy to pass on the fattening foods that normally I couldn't resist. Not only that, but I actually really wanted to work out. I had a genuine desire to do so, one that I knew came from somewhere deep in my conscience that was buried and somehow released through listening to self hypnosis CD's the night before.

It not only worked the first time, but continued to work, and I ended up losing the ten pounds or so that had piled on over the winter of gluttony. Hence, this was my window into the powers of suggestion, and I wanted to learn more about the applications that hypnotherapy had.

What I found was that it went far beyond the typical programs that everyone hears about like quitting smoking and weight loss.

There was self hypnosis, and professional hypnosis, for just about every human shortcoming you could think about. There are even body morphing hypnosis techniques that are supposed to subliminally encourage certain parts of your body to either expand (an example here would be breast enlargement), or shrink (say losing weight in a certain area).

Hypnotherapy has been used to help individuals with their sex lives, to help them gain self confidence before public speaking or other stressful events, and it has even helped people to attract others to them more readily in the dating arena.

It can help people stop dangerous habits, such as drinking alcohol too often (there are programs for alcoholics and drug addicts for example), and of course the most infamous use of hypnosis is probably to quit smoking.

Many people have raved about how good hypnosis programs, including self hypnosis programs, has helped them to kick this life threatening habit for good, and even to despise the smell and taste of cigarettes.

It's also well known that hypnosis and the power of the subconscious mind can make people behave bizarrely, say act like a dog, or like they are trying to avoid someone they don't want to talk to in public, as you may have seen demonstrations of in comic/hypnosis demonstrations before.

If it can make you behave any way it wants to, imagine what it can do for you in your life with something that you just can't seem to do completely on your own?

As a matter of fact, hypnotherapy is now being used to help women deliver without pain, and without the pain relieving injection called an epidural. It is supposed to help induce a relaxed state where pain is not really an issue, and is gaining popularity among those who choose to go the "natural" route.

Hypnosis is often used in criminal cases, as a means for victims or witnesses to recall events or people surrounding a wrongdoing, although it's admissibility in court is still a grey area.

Some question whether a person remembers what really happened or a skewed version of it, or what they want to believe happened, so it's still controversial.

In short, I could go on and on about the various uses of both professional and self hypnosis, but I think you get the idea that virtually everything people need help with or just need to be nudged in the right direction is something that hypnotherapy can help with.

I think over the next decade you're going to see hypnosis' practical applications expand dramatically as our understanding of the human mind gets more sophisticated.